He doesn’t mind pushing noble legislation that most people oppose. In Plato’s ideal society, philosopher kings and elite Guardians shepherded the rabble to force them to do the “right” thing. To prevent the unwashed from doing anything stupid, the all-powerful, all-wise Guardians often had to tell a few “noble” lies.

And, of course, these caretakers themselves were exempt from most rules they made for others. We are now seeing such thinking in the Obama administration and among its supporters.

A technocracy — many Ivy-League-educated and without much experience outside academia and government — pushes legislation most people do not want...